Broken and Beautiful
by UNCarolina8D
Summary: He was my brother, my bestfriend." She whispered into her father's ear. It was more to herself than to anybody else."I know. I know." He whispered back as Gabriella came and joined them as they all cried together.


So this is a idea i had after watching Gracie. But the only a couple of things will be the same. Most everything is different. Just wanted you all t know.

and the next chapter for her is almost done. so that should be up around monday or tuesday. and maybe a new one-shot i was working on during language arts. hehe.

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She just sat there in the cold wooden church bench staring into space. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be. He's still alive. It's all just a dream and none of it's true. She'll wake up by him being the annoying twin brother he is and blasting her stero so loud that it'll break the windows. She'll get mad at him and then he'll smile at her devishly and throw her over his shoulder and run down stairs just to scare the living day lights out of her.

Yeah, that's it. It's just a dream..just a dream.

But it became a harsh reality when she saw her father and all the strong men of the church carrying a large, mahogany casket down the narrow aisle of the small babtist church.

Her own twin brother...dead. And the worst part was that she was there. Everyone was there. Nobody misses a varsity game at East High. The church was packed with 'lovely people who just want to show their sympathy.' Well she doesn't want sympathy. She hates sympathy. She's had it all of her life.

Since she was in her mother's womb people have sympathized her. She was the small little baby that might not make it. She was to tiny. Her brother was big and ready to come out. She was the one smushed to the side and probably only three pounds. Her chances were slim to none.

She made it. But sometimes she wishes she hadn't. She'll always be small for her age. She's bony and no matter how much junk food she ate with her brother she never gained any weight. She's fifteen years old and weighs eighty pounds.

Aaron was her bestfriend. She told him everything and the favor was returned. Rarely was one found without the other. Siblings could only dream of the relationship they shared.

And now it's gone. And it was all because of a basketball game.

-flashback--------------------------------------------------------------

"Go Aaron!" She yelled from the sidelines! She was the manager of the boys basketball team and a pretty good one at that.

He smiled and winked at her from the court before running for a layup. The stands cheered. It was a tight game and they were down by one with ten seconds left on the clock.

She knew they were going to win. They just had to. Aaron had enough determination and poise for the whole team. He wouldn't let the loose. Not the championship game.

"Aaron Bolton with the steal! He goes down the court up for the shot and it's-" The annoucer was cut off by the sickening sound of Aaron's neck cracking after being fouled in the air and doing a backflip to the ground.

The whole gym was silent. She stood up from her spot on the bench and ran to him. She was the only one who moved. She got down on her knees and looked at him. His eyes were open but he wasn't moving.

"Someone help! He's not moving!" She watched as her dad processed what happened and ran out to the court along with the paramedics that attended every game.

"Move Lanie." She heard her father order. She faught back and refused to move.

"No. He needs me." She watched as her father raised his eyes and stared deep into the bright blue eyes that were identical to her own.

"Lanie Anne Bolton I told you to move." He raised his voice at her. He never raised his voice at her. He always calmly told her to leave because she was the baby that almost didn't make it. Her father was the worst at the sympathy thing.

"No! He's my bestfriend! I'm not leaving!" She clinged to her brother and didn't let go. She felt her fathers arm circle her waist and picked her up and gave her to the referee.

"No! Let me go! He needs me! He's my twin brother! He needs me!" She kicked and screamed and cried but once again fate wasn't on her side and the strong man easily carried her out of the croud that gathered around and set her down and continued to hold her back.

"He'll be okay. Any son of Troy Bolton is a fighter. He'll make it through." The kind man tried to calm the screaming teenager with soothing words. Oh how she wanted to believe them.

"You don't know that."

A few hours later she was sitting in the hard hospital chair waiting for news on her brother. Her dad was staring into space while holding her mother's hand who was crying silently.

She pulled her knees and held them close to her chest. She watched as doctor after doctor came out to tell other families about their loved ones. Some of them were bad news, some of them were good news. She didn't want to be like the family that was told their six year old daughter just died from a tragic car accident. She wanted to be like the wife that found out her husband only had a broken arm and was going to survive falling from that tree.

"Aaron Bolton?" She looked up to see the same doctor Aaron and her have been seeing for years. The doctor walked to the family with a slight smile on her face. But Lanie was good at reading people. The doctor had great sadness in her eyes. And before any words came out of the doctor's mouth Lanie broke down crying.

Troy and Gabriella looked confusingly at their daughter before the doctor put his hands on Troy's shoulder.

"I'm sorry."

That was when Gabriella broke down too. And Troy shook the doctor's hand and hugged his wife. He turned to look at his daughter who had shrunk to the ground and was crying like she did when she was a little girl. He tried to put his arms around her but she shrugged them off roughly and looked him in the eyes.

"Don't touch me!" She stood up and ran down the corridor.

"Lanie come back here!" Troy bellowed loudly and Gabriella started crying even more. He grabbed her hand and ran down the hall chasing her.

Lanie had pulled herself in a little ball as she looked at the hospital wall. Her family had been in this hospital so many times in her lifetime. When her and Aaron were six she got stuck in the hospital because she caught strep throat and her immune system was blown so she was admitted in the hospital for a week.

On her last day in the hospital Aaron snuck her out of her room in a wheelchair and took her all the way down to the end of the hall. He scratched a message on the wall and made her close her little eyes before he was done. When she opened them to find that Aaron had written 'I love you Lanie' on the wall in his sloppy chicken scratch.

She stared at it until she heard her family come running down the hall. They followed her eyes and Gabriella put her hand to her mouth shocked.

Troy bent down and tried to pick her up.

"Let me go!" She started banging on his chest as hard as she could.

"Put me down!" She continued to beat on his chest.

"Stop it!" She was crying hysterically now and she was running out of strength. She finally stopped and he set her down on a hospital couch and held her like a baby. She cried into his neck and he looked at Gabriella with worried eyes.

"He was my bestfriend." She whispered into her father's ear. It was more to herself than to anybody else.

"I know. I know." He whispered back as Gabriella came and joined them as they all cried together.

-end flashback---------------------------------------------------------------

She was torn out of the memory by a piano playing a hymn. Aaron wouldn't of wanted this. He would of wanted people to play his favorite christian rock band or something. This wasn't him.

She didn't stand up or sing. She just sat down and stared at the body of her twin brother.

Her father and mother got up to say a few words before she was called up to say her own speech about her brother. She nervously got up and walked to the podium with shaking hands.

"I..Aaron..he was.." She couldn't do this. She was never good at public speaking. She looked back at her brother's body and then back to the people in the congregation.

"I can't do this." She ran away crying a fresh new batch of tears that never really seem to stop.

She ran outside and found herself stuck in the rain. Great. Everything was depressing today. She could hear her father shout her name. She turned around to find him standing right there with his arms rapped around her petite body.

It hurt to see her crying this much. This all was a huge nightmare. Nobody wants to loose their child. A parent is supposed to die first. All the sudden a huge realization hit him. She was the only child he had left.

And he will do anything to protect her.

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HOPE YOU GUYS LIKED IT! I better go to bed now. It's one and it's a school night. yay!  
Anyway, please review!

BTW, GO GIANTS! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! 


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